03 May 14
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Is prosperity evil because it brings inequality? Does prosperity take from those who do not have and put it into the hands of those who have?
Should we look at the world as one great big premade pie with plenty to go around for everyone, or should we look at the world as those making their own pies that are limitless in number?
03 May 14
Originally posted by KazetNagorraWe keep hearing about the one percenters in the US who own about 45% of the pie.
Looking at the empirical evidence, what is the link between "prosperity" (measured how?) and inequality?
So are they fighting over a premade pie or is this pie ever expanding?
Put another way, have these one percenters stolen pie from the rest of us or are they simply making their own pie?
03 May 14
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Originally posted by whodeyNeither. Can you answer my question too?
We keep hearing about the one percenters in the US who own about 45% of the pie.
So are they fighting over a premade pie or is this pie ever expanding?
Put another way, have these one percenters stolen pie from the rest of us or are they simply making their own pie?
03 May 14
Originally posted by whodeygreed brings progress.
Is prosperity evil because it brings inequality? Does prosperity take from those who do not have and put it into the hands of those who have?
Should we look at the world as one great big premade pie with plenty to go around for everyone, or should we look at the world as those making their own pies that are limitless in number?
there is nothing wrong with having rich and poor. with having the rich become richer.
the problem comes with allowing the rich to become richer at the expense of the rest of the population. of giving them bailouts to stay rich. of giving them tax cuts.
03 May 14
Originally posted by KazetNagorraPerhaps the problem is when wealth leads to a plutocracy. The incredibly skewed distribution of wealth in the US is due to the ever growing plutocracy and a crumbling representative democracy.
Neither. Can you answer my question too?
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03 May 14
Originally posted by whodeyI see the world as a pie and my pie cant get bigger only so many slices if I take 4 portions rather than one that obviously means 3 people will go without( simple maybe too simple but that's how I see it).
Is prosperity evil because it brings inequality? Does prosperity take from those who do not have and put it into the hands of those who have?
Should we look at the world as one great big premade pie with plenty to go around for everyone, or should we look at the world as those making their own pies that are limitless in number?
03 May 14
Originally posted by whodeyPerhaps the problem is when wealth leads to plutocracy. The incredibly skewed distribution of wealth in the US is due to the ever growing plutocracy and a crumbling representative democracy. Recent SCOTUS decisions have reinforced this trend. This situation is especially troubling due to the current power, both politically and economically, the US wields
Is prosperity evil because it brings inequality? Does prosperity take from those who do not have and put it into the hands of those who have?
Should we look at the world as one great big premade pie with plenty to go around for everyone, or should we look at the world as those making their own pies that are limitless in number?
04 May 14
Originally posted by ZahlanziThat brings up policy in the US of bailing out banks, Wall Street brokers, and car manufacturers repeatedly, creating moral hazard.
greed brings progress.
there is nothing wrong with having rich and poor. with having the rich become richer.
the problem comes with allowing the rich to become richer at the expense of the rest of the population. of giving them bailouts to stay rich. of giving them tax cuts.
04 May 14
Originally posted by PhrannyHow does that happen, when the uber rich are such a minority compared to the lower classes? Perhaps a part of this is that the permanent political class from both parties has ambitions of joining that wealthy class.
Perhaps the problem is when wealth leads to a plutocracy. The incredibly skewed distribution of wealth in the US is due to the ever growing plutocracy and a crumbling representative democracy.
04 May 14
Originally posted by redbaronsA quick look at history (a couple of centuries), the growth of the world's population, and the relative improvement of living conditions in most of the world indicates a growing pie.
I see the world as a pie and my pie cant get bigger only so many slices if I take 4 portions rather than one that obviously means 3 people will go without( simple maybe too simple but that's how I see it).
04 May 14
Originally posted by normbenignA long and detailed study of economic data over three centuries by Thomas Piketty indicates a pie which initially was almost exclusively owned by the wealthiest 1% of the population, saw the redistribution of wealth far more widely during the twentieth century, permitting the growth of the middle class, before reverting to an economic structure in which the 1% will capture again the vast majority of wealth and the middle class will be dissolved. Wealth will no longer be attained primarily by work and enterprise, and will again be primarily passed on through inheritance to a privileged elite.
A quick look at history (a couple of centuries), the growth of the world's population, and the relative improvement of living conditions in most of the world indicates a growing pie.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/28/thomas-piketty-capital-surprise-bestseller
Piketty accepts that the fruits of economic maturity – skills, training and education of the workforce – do promote greater equality. But they can be offset by a more fundamental tendency towards inequality, which is unleashed wherever demographics or low taxation or weak labour organisation allows it. Many of the book's 700 pages are spent marshalling the evidence that 21st-century capitalism is on a one-way journey towards inequality – unless we do something.
04 May 14
Originally posted by finneganIf his data is correct, it indicates that capitalism improved mankind's overall prosperity, except that during the 20th century socialism and communism got in the way.
A long and detailed study of economic data over three centuries by Thomas Piketty indicates a pie which initially was almost exclusively owned by the wealthiest 1% of the population, saw the redistribution of wealth far more widely during the twentieth century, permitting the growth of the middle class, before reverting to an economic structure in which the ...[text shortened]... -century capitalism is on a one-way journey towards inequality – unless we do something.[/quote]
04 May 14
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Originally posted by normbenignhttp://www.amazon.com/Capital-Twenty-First-Century-Thomas-Piketty/dp/067443000X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1399242595&sr=8-1&keywords=piketty+capital+in+the+twenty-first+century
If his data is correct, it indicates that capitalism improved mankind's overall prosperity, except that during the 20th century socialism and communism got in the way.
Treat yourself. It's the number one best seller in the US. You can get it cheaper than on the UK Amazon site which is irritating.
Piketty shows that modern economic growth and the diffusion of knowledge have allowed us to avoid inequalities on the apocalyptic scale predicted by Karl Marx. But we have not modified the deep structures of capital and inequality as much as we thought in the optimistic decades following World War II. The main driver of inequality--the tendency of returns on capital to exceed the rate of economic growth--today threatens to generate extreme inequalities that stir discontent and undermine democratic values. But economic trends are not acts of God. Political action has curbed dangerous inequalities in the past, Piketty says, and may do so again.
A work of extraordinary ambition, originality, and rigor, Capital in the Twenty-First Century reorients our understanding of economic history and confronts us with sobering lessons for today.
Give me a break.